Silverlion’s report on Millwall 1 Sheffield Wednesday 1
An energetic, end to end game with lots of incidents, some which were dealt very poorly by the prem ref.
We started off brightly with lots of energy and forward movement with everybody giving their all. Shittu and Lowry looked solid at the back but their giant 34 was difficult to shift off the ball. We had the better of the chances. A good through ball from Fredericks was dummied by Keogh and put Morison in who hit a good shot across the face of the goal which their keeper tipped over for a corner. A couple of minutes later their defender hit a poor back pass to Martin who had many options to put it away from 12 yards but chose to hit it straight at their keeper. It was a golden chance which could have got our noses in front. Bailey then hit a poor cross field ball which was intercepted and their bloke was away but his cross was headed over by their giant striker. They had a couple of other chances too but they were both off target.
The second half began with a nice touch as the away fans gave a big ovation to Bywater, who used to be their keeper. A great cross was met by Morison who directed a looping header to the top corner which their bloke clawed away. They went down the other end and Bywater saved a good opportunity. There was lots of energy and pressing and whilst we were moving forward and playing a high line they hit a strong ball though the middle, their bloke ran on to it, rounded Bywater and tucked it home. It was almost against the run of play.
DJ came on and really started to make an impact. For a little bloke he can really jump and he started to ruffle their back line. Williams came on and his very first touch was poor and almost let their bloke in. We pressed forward well and Morison made a good run into their box, pulled the ball back and crossed it and their bloke jus got to it first when it only needed a touch. From another good move a cross and header from Morison (I think) came back to DJ and he nodded it in. We pressed hard and looked the more likely to score but, when the ball was punted up to our corner flag Lowry and their bloke Coke tangled with arms raised and, after several minutes, both were sent off. Their giant 34 completely lost it and I was surprised that he only got a yellow.
We pressed forward more and there should have been a penalty earlier when Malone was pushed off the ball as he was about to pull the trigger. Trotter was upended in the box but still no penalty and when their keeper rushed out and blocked the ball (maybe with his hand!) the ref played on. Really late on there was another body checking as we pressed forward, the ref played advantage and they gained possession immediately and they broke clear. Where was the advantage in that! For a prem ref he missed a lot and was soundly booed at the end.
You couldn’t fault our effort and endeavour and there were encouraging performances from Trotter and Morison and some good runs from Malone and Fredericks but Feeney was disappointing and Woolford was in and out too much.
My MOM was probably Shittu but the back four were solid. Fredericks needed oxygen at the end as he was blowing hard but many had given everything in the call of duty. An encouraging performance where our finishing let us down at crucial moments and the ref let us down most of the time.
